As 1 in 6 UK adults struggle with their mental health, is the rise in remote working making employees happier or creating a workforce racked by loneliness?

Telehealth and GP service Babylon has rolled out a "COVID-19 Care Assistant" with a raft of features designed to help subscribers cope with symptoms during the pandemic, from the safety of their phone screen

The proptech startup wanted to democratise investment in prime real estate projects through crowdfunding, but government regulations have limited its reach to high net worth individuals

Many startups in Britain either do not intend to or cannot access the government's Coronavirus Business Interruption and Loan Scheme, and may be forced to respond with furloughs or layoffs, warns a report

A lone developer from the company that provided aerodynamic analysis for the cars in the PlayStation game Gran Turismo has applied the tooling to demonstrate the spread of germs with and without wearing a mask

While coordinated action is urgently needed, should we be racing to download everything that promises a solution?

The relationship wellness app is seeing a significant uptick in interest as couples are locked down together during the COVID-19 pandemic

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The Immigration Department today reminded the public to stay vigilant against phone scammers claiming to be from the department.

The department said victims in recent cases received pre-recorded voice calls from scammers posing as immigration officers informing them that they would have immigration restrictions imposed on them.

Such calls were then transferred to another scammer posing as a non-local law enforcement officer who asked the call recipient to provide sensitive information such as personal particulars, bank account numbers and passwords.

The department stressed that it does not make any pre-recorded voice calls to the public, nor will it transfer calls to other non-local authorities or ask the call recipient to provide information such as bank account numbers and passwords.

It reminded people to verify the identity of a caller and not to disclose their personal information.

If people have any doubts about a call, they should immediately report it to Police.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng today refuted suggestions that the law prohibiting group gatherings to combat the COVID-19 epidemic was being misused to crack down on protests and people's freedoms.

During a media session, Ms Cheng responded to criticisms from some legislators that Police were abusing the measure to clamp down on protests.

She said: “The Government respects and protects the freedoms that are set out in our laws, Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance. However, these freedoms are not absolute. Insofar as they violate the laws, then of course appropriate actions will have to be taken.”

The Government had earlier introduced the Prevention & Control of Disease (Prohibition on Group Gathering) Regulation (Cap. 599G) to prohibit group gatherings with more than four people in public places with a view to combating COVID-19.

The regulation was made in accordance with the Prevention & Control of Disease Ordinance (Cap. 599).

“Cap. 599G is enforced under Cap. 599 as a matter of the public health emergency situation that is facing Hong Kong at the moment. It is promulgated to encourage social distancing. It is not with any other motive except for the safety and health of the people in Hong Kong.

“I hope that you will all comply with it in spirit and in form, so that you will not gather and thereby extend Hong Kong's position in this public health emergency situation. That is the only way by which we can get back to normal life as soon as possible.”

In response to a reporter's question on the relevant provisions in the Basic Law that pertain to the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Ms Cheng remarked that the liaison office must also comply with Hong Kong laws.

“The Central People's Government as defined in the Constitution Law is actually the State Council, and therefore when one looks at the whole thing about the Constitution Law, Article 5 of the Constitution Law states unequivocally that every body that is set up will have to comply with the relevant laws and the Constitution Law.

“In other words, the liaison office will have to obey and comply with the laws in Hong Kong.”

The first batch of about 300 Hong Kong residents stranded in Pakistan will take a chartered flight tentatively scheduled to leave Islamabad on the morning of April 30 and arrive in Hong Kong in the afternoon.

In a statement today, the Security Bureau said the returnees upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport will proceed to the Temporary Specimen Collection Centre at AsiaWorld-Expo by coach for compulsory COVID-19 testing before they are transferred to the quarantine centre at Chun Yeung Estate for a 14-day quarantine.

In view of the COVID-19 situation, the Pakistan Government banned all international flight movements since late March, resulting in Hong Kong residents there being unable to return to Hong Kong through normal means.

The Immigration Department has received requests for assistance from Hong Kong residents stranded there and as at yesterday, it has successfully contacted about 1,600 of them.

Due to the large number of people requesting assistance and having regard to the returnees' quarantine arrangements, the capacities for testing, and the quarantine and treatment facilities, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government must adopt a phased approach in assisting their return, subject to the circumstances.

The first batch of Hong Kong residents on the chartered flight are those staying in Islamabad and its surrounding areas. They also include people with special needs such as those with illnesses and pregnant women.

The cost of taking the chartered flight is about $6,000 per person and is borne by the user.

The Security Bureau said the chartered flight could not have been arranged smoothly without the staunch support of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (OCMFA) and the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, as well as the full co-operation rendered by the Pakistan Government and the Consulate General of Pakistan in Hong Kong.

The bureau said the Hong Kong SAR Government will continue to liaise with the residents still in Pakistan and assist in their return.

Meanwhile, a flight will arrive from Doha this afternoon carrying about 170 Hong Kong residents returning from Pakistan themselves.

The bureau added that upon their arrival in Hong Kong, they will be arranged to leave deep throat saliva samples at the Temporary Specimen Collection Centre before being admitted to the quarantine centre at Chun Yeung Estate for a 14-day quarantine.

Apart from Pakistan, the Indian Government has also since late March banned all international flight movements. As at yesterday, the Immigration Department has successfully contacted about 3,100 Hong Kong residents stranded there who sought assistance to return home.

The Hong Kong SAR Government is maintaining close contact with the OCMFA, the Chinese Embassy in India and the Consulate General of India in Hong Kong, while also contacting several airlines to arrange return flights to Hong Kong.

On this last Sunday of 2019, I wish every Hong Kong citizen a warm, peaceful and hopeful year 2020.

A New Year holds welcome promises of a fresh start and a new beginning. The New Year is also traditionally a time for planning, greeting, reminiscing as well as some soul and heart searching.

I believe that many of you would share my feeling that the year 2019 has been a year of unremitting shocks and turbulence to our community and our economy. Indeed, it has been a severely testing time for all in Hong Kong.

It all began with the introduction into the Legislative Council of the bill to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance in April. Responding to strong public sentiment, the Government suspended all work on the bill in mid-June and declared its death in early July. On September 4, the Chief Executive announced the bill's withdrawal. This was done on October 23 when the Legislative Council resumed normal business.

Despite this, the public protests which began as largely peaceful and orderly marches in June soon got out of control. Unprecedented violence and reckless destruction became the norm. Radical protesters attacked police officers as well as police stations and facilities with petrol bombs, iron bars, bricks and chemicals. Some even used high-tension slingshots, bows and arrows. During the past six months or so, over 2,600 people were injured in the social unrest, including over 500 police officers.

Meanwhile, public infrastructure and transport including a cumulative total of 85 heavy rail stations and 62 light rail stations, as well as countless shops, restaurants and shopping malls had been repeatedly vandalised. More so, nearly 21,000 square metres of paving blocks from footpaths were ripped up and used as weapons to attack Police. Over 52,000 metres of roadside railing were removed and 740 sets of traffic lights destroyed.

Last month, masked protesters battered the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel, shutting it down for two full weeks. This vital city artery normally carries 110,000 vehicles a day, accounting for some 43% of the daily cross-harbour vehicular flow. It took a total of 800 government staff and contractor's workers some 100 hours to carry out emergency repair round-the-clock before the tunnel could be reopened. At the same time, nearby Polytechnic University was overrun by radical protesters. The same happened to the Chinese University.

Apart from recklessly damaging our universities, violent protesters turned the two campuses into arsenals on a frightening scale. When the last of the protesters finally left the universities, Police seized altogether nearly 8,000 petrol bombs plus numerous explosives, hundreds of bottles of corrosive liquid and weapons of all sorts.

This level of premeditated and organised destruction and violence could hardly be tolerated in any country or economy that upholds the rule of law. Hong Kong, I am proud to say, is among those economies that believe passionately in the primacy of rule of law. It safeguards our economy, our community, our families and our way of life.

In fact, the rule of law is among Hong Kong's much cherished core values, alongside our fiercely independent judiciary, clean government, level playing field for business and enviable freedoms. These freedoms, as enshrined in the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance, include freedom of speech, of the press and free flow of information; freedom of association and assembly; free trade and free port; free flow of capital; freely convertible currency; freedom of religious belief and free education. We have also been the freest economy in the world continuously for 25 years. The unique "one country, two systems" formula has been functioning well and we enjoy the best of both worlds.

Despite the recent social unrest which has affected our economy and labour market, Hong Kong's institutional strengths remain robust and intact. Our fundamentals stay sound and strong. We still enjoy a high rating in various areas by international think tanks and agencies. Allow me to say that whilst Hong Kong may not have the full semblance of Western democracy, we do enjoy for a very long time the full substance of real freedom which underpins Hong Kong's success.

Over the past six months, most of the requests for public meetings, processions and protests were given the greenlight by Police. During these public events, be it small or large, Police had dutifully facilitated and ensured the safety of protesters and other road users. When the requests were not approved, it was generally a decision made in the hopes of preventing violence, ensuring peace and public order, as our society has every right to expect of its police and its government.

On November 24, we witnessed a peaceful and orderly District Council Election with a record high turnout and voting rates. My colleagues and I are looking forward to working with all new District Council members. We also look forward to expanding our dialogue with the community. While we will continue to engage different sectors of society through our usual channels, the Government will broaden and rejuvenate our communication with the public. Less than two weeks ago and after the one by the Chief Executive in September, my Principal Official colleagues have started a dialogue with the public through Facebook live. You will certainly see more of us listening and responding to people's views and concerns on these and other communication channels in the coming year.

We are also establishing an Independent Review Committee comprising experts and community leaders. The committee will look into the causes and full circumstances of the social unrest and probe into Hong Kong's deep-seated social conflicts, from affordable housing, land supply, wealth gap, upward social mobility and opportunities for our young people to social justice. The committee will recommend ways to address the real and long-entrenched community concerns that underlie the discord.

Meanwhile, our economy is inevitably affected by the twin blows of social unrest and the trade dispute between the United States and the Mainland. Businesses and people of Hong Kong are yearning for the restoration of peace and order soonest possible, and the recovery of our economy.

In response, the Government has launched four rounds of relief measures since August. These added up to more than $25 billion. A number of the measures which will benefit grassroots families and small and medium enterprises will be implemented at the beginning of the New Year.

These relief measures would not solve our economic problems. Yet, they could help businesses and people of Hong Kong stay afloat while we strive to heal our divided community and battered economy.

There are deep-seated issues that we must acknowledge and resolve if we are to end the prolonged social unrest that has shaken the familiar Hong Kong which we all love and cherish. We must be patient and perseverant in helping our city to heal, one step at a time.

The past six months have been tough for us, but we will soldier on. Hong Kong is a remarkably resilient and resourceful international city with a strong can-do spirit. We have a New Year waiting for us. We have new and expanded channels of communication opened up for us. We expect the first report of the Independent Police Complaints Council to come out soon. And we have research and concrete recommendations of the Independent Review Committee ahead of us. Working together, I am confident that we can rebuild, reclaim and rejuvenate the remarkably resilient spirit of Hong Kong.

On this note, I wish all of you a New Year blessed with peace, harmony and goodwill.

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung gave these remarks on RTHK's "Letter to Hong Kong" programme aired on December 29.

Last month, I paid a visit to Yuen Long where I met a few families at Long Shin Estate. Apart from distributing face masks and anti-epidemic supplies to them, I was also given a better understanding of the impact brought by the epidemic on their daily lives. To show our concerted support in the fight against the disease, the Department of Justice (DoJ) Staff Club organised a volunteer activity on Sunday, which I joined with my fellow colleagues in offering our help to those in need.

To echo the Government's move to stay united, the DoJ Staff Club put forth a cash contribution campaign to buy anti-epidemic supplies for donation. The staff club volunteers acquired face masks and alcohol-based handrub in different ways - some were purchased through online shopping and some were bought at medicine stores. Last Sunday, I joined the volunteers in packing the anti-epidemic supplies, supermarket cash coupons and leaflets with health information. Our volunteers took the care packs in person to a non-governmental organisation a few days ago for passing to the elderly and low-income groups.

The staff club has been participating in volunteer services now and then. Given the overwhelming response this time, I am glad to know that more volunteer activities would be organised in the future. I would definitely be joining as many as I could. Through offering our efforts to help those in need, we hope to show our care for the less privileged in society and contribute to building a caring and inclusive community.

The public services of the DoJ, like all other government departments, have gradually resumed back to normal. I inspected the Justice Place on Monday to learn more about the infection control measures in place, such as the body temperature checking arrangement, provision of hand sanitisers and sanitising mats at building entrances.

We must remain vigilant as the epidemic is still severe, and more importantly, we also need to stand in solidarity in the fight against the disease.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng wrote this article and posted it on her blog on March 5.

In view of the severe economic repercussions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic globally and locally, the Government announced another package of measures to support the affected individuals and businesses last Wednesday. Two of which are particularly relevant to the legal and dispute resolution sector - the LawTech Fund and the COVID-19 Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Scheme. The LawTech Fund was briefly introduced in this blog a few days ago. Today, I would like to give an online explanation of the COVID-19 ODR.

In anticipation of an upsurge of disputes arising from or relating to COVID-19, the scheme aims to provide speedy and cost-effective means to resolve such disputes, especially for those involving micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that may be adversely affected or hard hit by the pandemic. The scheme will engage eBRAM (electronic Business Related Arbitration & Mediation system) to provide ODR services to the general public and businesses, in particular MSMEs, involved in low value disputes.

The scheme plans to cover COVID-19 related disputes with the claim amount for each case to be capped at $500,000. Either one of the parties (claimant or respondent) must be a Hong Kong resident or company and they will only be required to each pay $200 registration fees. Under the scheme, the parties are required to enter into a dispute resolution agreement to record their consent.

The process to be adopted is a multi-tiered dispute resolution mechanism where the parties will first attempt to negotiate their disputes, followed by mediation and if that does not result in settlement, then subsequently to arbitration for a final and binding award. This is in line with the "Mediate First" policy that we have been advocating under our "Mediate First" Pledge Programmes.

The scheme aims to offer a fast and effective means to resolve disputes among parties. Each tier of dispute resolution will be conducted within a limited time. The tiers are devised with a view to avoiding disputes and differences from being entrenched. If the disputes can be resolved successfully and amicably through negotiation or mediation, we hope it will help build and reinforce a harmonious society and enable the parties to preserve their long term business relationship.

We also hope the scheme will have the benefit of job creation and job advancement for mediators and arbitrators (including their pupils). Parties are at liberty to appoint the third party neutral of their choice and if no agreement is reached, there will be a mechanism for appointment. The third party neutrals and the parties or their representatives can still handle cases under the social distancing measures online and indeed to practice on the handling of cases online. We would like the scheme to be launched in June if funding is provided in April.

It is a global trend to develop and use ODR to provide reliable and efficient platform to facilitate alternative dispute resolution. The scheme is in line with the development under Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's Collaborative Framework on ODR (APEC Framework), with MSMEs as the major beneficiary. The mechanism of adopting negotiation and mediation in the first stage under the APEC Framework is also to prevent entrenched views on the conflicts, thereby helping to create harmony in society.

Some forms of alternative dispute resolution, such as mediation, are a more cost-effective way to resolve disputes. The costs of mediation are almost always lower than the disputed amounts, making it an economical way to resolve disputes. Mediation can save time too. Some cases may be resolved following just one day of mediation.

LawTech has greatly helped the development of dispute resolution services. The establishment of a safe, reliable and credible platform to provide enterprises with convenient and cost-effective online dispute resolution will become a new trend.

It is one of the major long-term policy objectives of the Department of Justice (DoJ) in recent years to enhance and promote Hong Kong's status as an international legal hub for deal-making and dispute resolution. A further promotion of the use of ODR will help consolidate Hong Kong's position as an international business and financial centre.

The social media accounts of the DoJ's IDAR Office have been introducing the procedure, characteristics and benefits of mediation and arbitration. You may wish to visit the dedicated pages of the IDAR Office to keep abreast of the dispute resolution services.

In addition to the relief measures announced by the Government, the DoJ has also taken the initiative to speed up payment of fees to counsel. Counsel engaged by the DoJ could submit their interim fee notes together with the interim case reports after certain work has been completed. Each case will be considered individually on a case-by-case basis and interim payments could be made. I have enquired and am also glad to learn from the Legal Aid Department and the Duty Lawyer Service that they made similar arrangements.

We are confident that Hong Kong can weather the storm with our fundamental strengths and resilience. We also trust that we would overcome this unprecedented challenge by standing in solidarity.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng wrote this article and posted it on her blog on April 13.

The Leisure & Cultural Services Department’s Community Oral History Theatre Project will be launched in Kowloon City District on January 15.

An oral history theatre performance and a sharing session will kick off the project.

The performance will feature an excerpt from the production of Sai Kung, Therefore I Live.

It will be held at Hung Hom Community Hall.

Admission is free with tickets.

Click here for details.

“Listening is an art that requires attention over talent, spirit over ego, others over self.” Dean Jackson It’s hard to understand what we haven’t experienced or lived. Particularly, it is hard to make decisions that affect others when we don’t … Continue reading →

The Les Arcs Co-Production village, running December 13-16 within the Les Arcs European Film Festival (Dec 13-20), will present 25 projects in development and a further 10 works-in-progress. Several of the projects chosen for this year’s event are Irish films and films with Irish producers’ backing.

The Lands Department will provide additional rental or fee concessions for tenants of short-term tenancies (STT) and waiver holders in accordance with the new round of support measures announced earlier this month.

The measures aim to strengthen support for enterprises in light of the challenges arising from the COVID-19 epidemic.

In accordance with the support measures launched in 2019 and those announced in the 2020-21 Budget, STTs and waivers for varying the terms of land grants for business and community uses under the department have been granted 50% rental or fee concession from October 2019 to September this year.

Under the new round of support measures, the 5,000 eligible STT tenants and waiver holders already enjoying the previous concession, such as catering facilities, shops, workshops, public fee-paying car parks, and welfare facilities, will see their rental or fee concession rate increase to 75% from April to September.

The 75% concession arrangement will be extended to businesses not covered previously, such as depots for public transport operators, public utilities, petrol filling stations, driving schools and advertising facilities, effective for the same period.

If these tenants and waiver holders are ordered to close or have chosen to close due to the Government’s orders or other restrictions for safeguarding public health under the relevant regulation, they may further apply to the department for full rental or fee concession for the duration of the closure.

The department will issue written notifications to eligible STT tenants and waiver holders on the above concession measures and their implementation details.           

Additionally, to help development projects with construction progress affected by the epidemic, the department will offer extensions of the Building Covenant period at nil premium for up to six months for leases with the covenant not yet discharged as at April 8.

The department will issue a practice note and upload it onto its website by the end of the month to announce the application arrangements for lessees.

Banks and financial institutions taking part in providing mortgage loans for the Housing Authority Subsidised Sale Flats Scheme (SSFS) may offer a mortgage principal moratorium plan to the scheme’s mortgagors.

The authority today wrote to these institutions to confirm and agree that such a plan is applicable for SSFS flats.

Principal repayment may be deferred for a maximum 12-month period and the mortgage loan repayment period may be extended correspondingly by a maximum of 12 months.

The principal moratorium period may commence by December 31 this year at the latest.

The arrangement is applicable to the Home Ownership Scheme, the Private Sector Participation Scheme, the Buy or Rent Option Scheme, the Tenants Purchase Scheme and the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme in the primary market and under the Secondary Market Scheme.

To encourage participating financial institutions to provide mortgage loans and better mortgage terms for SSFS flat purchasers, the authority provides a mortgage default guarantee for them.

It undertakes to meet the shortfall in repayment in the event of default by the borrowers under specified circumstances during the guarantee period.

Due to the requirements in the guarantee deed on the mortgage loan period and the monthly instalment amount, participating financial institutions may not be able to offer a mortgage principal moratorium plan to SSFS flat owners.

In light of the economic downturn arising from the COVID-19 outbreak, the authority confirmed today that a mortgage principal moratorium plan is applicable for SSFS flats.

The move will encourage participating financial institutions to offer such a plan to SSFS flat owners, reducing their burden of mortgage repayment.

As we all know, Hong Kong as well as most parts of the world are facing a pandemic that has an enormous negative impact on our social and economic life. At this juncture, we don't have any accurate way to predict what will happen in the coming months. Two months ago, we were worried about whether COVID-19 would become a pandemic. Yet, the scale of the pandemic as we see now is not what we could have imagined two months ago. What we can do now is tackle the social and economic crisis upfront and build the resilience of our society, in particular, our employment market, so that when the time comes where social and economic activities can resume no matter how gradually or rapidly, our society can bounce back as soon as possible.

Unemployment has edged up bit by bit since the latter part of 2019. Statistics and daily news about business closures are telling us that unemployment is going up rapidly. While we should see what can be done to help those unemployed, the more important and urgent task is to see how we can "stop the bleeding", which essentially means job retention. The Employment Support Scheme, with a budget of over $80 billion, is designed exactly for that purpose. Through providing time-limited financial support, the whole idea of this scheme is to preserve jobs by enabling employers to keep their employees in employment for the coming months, and also when business resumes, employers can immediately grab the opportunities.

The central idea of the Employment Support Scheme is to provide wage subsidy that is equivalent to 50% of the wages of the employees up to a wage cap of $18,000 per month. The subsidy is given to the employers so that they can keep their staff for the coming six months. The employers will be required to have no redundancy or layoffs during the months that they receive wage subsidies from the Government.

In Hong Kong, we do not have a pay-as-you-go income tax system. Neither do we have a social insurance system nor a central provident fund to cover everyone in our workforce. That means we do not have any existing system covering every employer and employee in Hong Kong that we can devise a wage subsidy scheme that covers everyone. Any system meant to cover everyone in our workforce must be mandatory in nature and that will take time for us to have the relevant legislation in place and subsequently the system built.

However, schemes under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) and the other Occupational Retirement Schemes provide a framework that we can develop a wage subsidy scheme to cover the great majority of the workforce. This is definitely not sufficient. In particular, we have identified three sectors that do not have good coverage in the provident fund systems. They are the catering industry, the construction industry and the passenger transport sector. Under the Anti-epidemic Fund, we have three sector-specific schemes to assist the employers and the employees in these sectors.

Many freelance workers or those in the so-called slash economy do not make contributions to the MPF. Though we have over 200,000 self-employed persons having an account in the MPF system, they do not pay MPF regularly. While we will provide a one-off wage subsidy to those self-employed persons who have made MPF contributions within the past 15 months, we also have three separate but mutually exclusive schemes operating under the Home Affairs Bureau, the Education Bureau and the Social Welfare Department, providing the same one-off wage subsidy to those freelance workers who provide arts and sports training. The one-off wage subsidy is $7,500.

Though all the schemes I mentioned above still cannot cover everyone in the workforce, this is the best we can do in making use of existing systems so that we can launch this round of the Anti-epidemic Fund in the shortest possible time to help our employers and employees to survive the challenges that are with us now. Any new systems to be built from scratch will not be able to provide the necessary timely support that employers and employees desperately need.

As mentioned earlier, unemployment is increasing at a disturbing rate. The basic unemployment protection system in Hong Kong relies on two legs. One is the Severance Payment or Long Service Payment payable by the employers, which is equivalent to two-thirds of the monthly salary times the number of years of service with the employer. The other is the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme. The CSSA provides a level of income support to families for their basic level of living in the context of Hong Kong. The CSSA provides a safety net to any family not having sufficient means, including those who are unemployed.

Apart from the income test, the CSSA also has an asset test. For the purpose of providing extra help to those unemployed during this difficult time, the Government will double the existing asset limit for the able-bodied for a limited period of six months, allowing more families with people unemployed to become eligible to receive CSSA. We estimated that about 40,000 families will benefit from this enhancement.

Unfortunately, over the years there is a social stigma towards the CSSA system. People in desperation may be deterred from applying for CSSA simply because of the stigma. This is the time for us to destigmatise the CSSA system. It is the safety net for citizens of Hong Kong. It is the responsibility of an affluent society like Hong Kong to provide the basic level of living to those who cannot afford to do so on their own. This is the time, this difficult time, that this safety net should perform its basic function.

We are doing our best to support Hong Kong in this epidemic fight. Let's weather the storm and brave the challenges together.

This is the Letter to Hong Kong by Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong on anti-epidemic measures and the Employment Support Scheme carried on Radio Television Hong Kong Radio 3 on April 19.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 4.2% in the period between January and March, up from 3.7% for the period between December 2019 and February, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.

The underemployment rate also increased to 2.1% in the period.

Total employment dropped by 48,800 to 3,720,000 while the labour force fell by 20,800 to 3,882,200.

There were 134,100 unemployed people in the period, an increase of 28,100 from the period between December 2019 and February, and the number of underemployed people rose by 23,700 to 82,800.

Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong said that the labour market further deteriorated as the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted a wide range of economic activities.

The unemployment rate soared by 0.5 percentage point to 4.2% for the period, the highest in more than nine years, while the underemployment rate likewise surged 0.6 percentage point to 2.1%, the highest in nearly a decade, he said.

The year-on-year declines in total employment and labour force widened further to 3.6% and 2.2%, both the largest on record.

The combined unemployment rate of the consumption and tourism-related sectors of retail, accommodation and food services soared to 6.8%, the highest since the period between August and October in 2009 following the global financial crisis, while the underemployment rate rose to 3.9%, the highest since the period between June and August of 2003 following the onslaught of SARS.

Dr Law added the situation in food and beverage service activities was severe, with the unemployment and underemployment rates surging to 8.6% and 5.4%.

Meanwhile, the unemployment and underemployment rates of the construction sector went up drastically to 8.5% and 7.1% amid a visible slowdown in construction activities.

The unemployment and underemployment situation worsened visibly in the transportation and education sectors as well. Labour market conditions in most other sectors also saw deterioration of various degrees.

Dr Law said: "The labour market will continue to face significant pressure from the economic fallout arising from the pandemic in the near term.

“The Government has rolled out relief measures of unprecedented scale, including the one-off measures in the 2020-21 Budget and the two rounds of measures under the Anti-epidemic Fund totalling $287.5 billion, with a view to preserving the vitality of the economy and relieving people's financial burdens.

“Some specific measures, in particular the Employment Support Scheme and various types of support for specific sectors, should help keep workers in employment.

“The Government will closely monitor the developments, including the progress and effectiveness of the various relief measures.”

John R. White
May 1, 2014; 27:82-86
From Research to Practice

Sarah Tomasello
Jan 1, 2008; 21:19-25
Articles